Email ideas for restaurants and pubs: what to send all year

Good restaurant email ideas follow your calendar: automatic welcome and birthday emails, a monthly what's-on round-up, seasonal booking pushes (Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day) and one-off emails for news like a new menu. Below is a year of ideas grouped by type and season, from Christmas 2026 through to summer 2027, each with an example subject line you can adapt.

All the examples use made-up venues and prices, so swap in your own. If you're new to venue email, start with our guide to email marketing for pubs and restaurants, which covers how often to send and how to tell what's working.

#Which emails can run on autopilot?

Five emails can be set up once in your email platform and left to send themselves. Each one goes out at the moment it's most relevant to that person, which a monthly newsletter can't do.

A few notes on making them work:

• The welcome email should arrive within minutes of sign-up and deliver whatever you promised on the sign-up card. If you offered a free pudding, put the pudding in the email.
• Birthday emails need a birthday month field on your sign-up form. Send at the start of the month so there's time to book.
• The post-visit email is a natural place to ask for a Google review, as long as you ask everyone and offer nothing for it. Google's content policy says businesses can't offer incentives such as payment, discounts or free goods and services in exchange for a review, or selectively ask for positive ones (Google).
• "We miss you" emails need your booking system connected to your email platform, so it knows when someone last booked. If yours can't do that, skip it.

#Restaurant email ideas for your monthly round-up

Three or four short items, each with a link, is plenty. Rotate through these and you won't run dry:

• Run through what's on this month: quiz nights, live music, the big matches. Try "November at The Brindle Kitchen: quiz, jazz and a new Sunday menu".
• Flag a menu change, a seasonal special or the return of a favourite, with something like "The pie is back (and it's brought gravy)".
• Introduce a face from the team, whether that's a new chef or the bartender who's been there for years. "Meet Priya, our new head chef" does the job.
• Tell people where something comes from (the butcher, the brewery down the road, the bakery that does your bread). Try "Where our sourdough comes from".
• Share what regulars order most, straight from your own till data. "The dish you've ordered most this year" is a bit of honest social proof.
• Cover practical changes like new opening hours or a closure for a refurb, near the top if it affects visits.

A full menu launch deserves an email of its own, and our menu launch marketing plan covers the timing across email and social.

#Autumn and Christmas 2026 email ideas

This is the busiest stretch of the email year, and it starts early. Here's the whole year at a glance, with the send dates I'd aim for.

For the rest of 2026:

• Launch the Christmas menu by mid October if it isn't out already, with the price, the dates it's served and how groups book. Try "Our Christmas menu is out: 3 courses for £34".
• Go after works-do organisers with a party bookings email, then a reminder in early November. "Still need a venue for the work Christmas do?" Our Christmas party bookings guide covers the follow-up.
• Halloween falls on Saturday 31 October in 2026, which suits a fancy dress night or a themed menu. Something like "Halloween on a Saturday: fancy dress, DJ till late".
• Bonfire Night is Thursday 5 November. If there's a local display, a warm-up menu before or after is an easy sell: "Fireworks tonight? Hot chocolate and chilli from 5pm".
• Sell gift vouchers in late November, and again in mid December for the last-minute crowd. Try "Stuck for a present? Our vouchers never go out of fashion".
• Send Christmas opening hours in early December. The Boxing Day bank holiday falls on Monday 28 December in 2026 (gov.uk), so be clear about which days you're open: "Our Christmas and New Year opening hours".
• Get New Year's Eve out by late November. It's a Thursday in 2026, and the email needs tickets or a set menu with a clear price: "New Year's Eve: 5 courses and a fizz at midnight, £75".

#January to March 2027 email ideas

January is quiet for most venues, so the emails here have to give people a reason to leave the sofa. Then February and March get busy fast.

• Lean into Dry January with your alcohol-free range and the food. Try "Doing Dry January? Our alcohol-free list just got longer". There's a whole post on Dry January marketing for pubs.
• Burns Night is Monday 25 January 2027, and a supper with haggis and neeps suits a quiet Monday. "Burns Night supper, Mon 25 Jan: 3 courses £28".
• The Six Nations runs from Friday 5 February to Saturday 13 March 2027 (Six Nations Rugby). Send the list of matches you're showing before the opening weekend, then a reminder each week: "Every Six Nations match, on every screen". Our guide to planning around major tournaments has more.
• Pancake Day is Tuesday 9 February 2027 (Office Holidays), which is a gift for cafes and family pubs. Try "Pancakes all day Tuesday, sweet or savoury".
• Valentine's Day falls on Sunday 14 February 2027, so offer a Sunday lunch for two alongside the Saturday night. "Valentine's weekend: Saturday dinner or Sunday lunch for two".
• Mother's Day is Sunday 7 March 2027 (Office Holidays). Send the first email in early February and a reminder in late February, something like the example below.
• St Patrick's Day is Wednesday 17 March 2027, and live music gives people a midweek reason to come in. "St Patrick's on a Wednesday: live band from 8pm".

#Spring and summer 2027 email ideas

The bank holidays do the heavy lifting here. For England and Wales, gov.uk lists Good Friday on 26 March and Easter Monday on 29 March 2027, then the early May bank holiday on Monday 3 May, the spring bank holiday on Monday 31 May and the summer bank holiday on Monday 30 August (gov.uk). Scotland's summer bank holiday is earlier, on Monday 2 August.

• Cover the Easter weekend: opening hours, an Easter Sunday lunch, anything for kids. Try "Easter weekend: open all four days, Sunday lunch from £22".
• Give each bank holiday Monday its own short email, even if it's just the opening hours. "Bank holiday Monday: barbecue in the garden from 1pm".
• Announce the beer garden opening whenever the weather finally allows. "The garden's open. Heaters on, just in case".
• Father's Day is Sunday 20 June 2027 (Office Holidays). A Sunday lunch, a steak night or a beer flight all work: "Father's Day, Sunday 20 June: book his roast".
• If you're a family venue, send a kids' menu deal or activity list just before schools break up. Something like "Kids eat for £5 all summer holidays".
• Treat summer sport the same way as the Six Nations: the list of what you're showing first, then weekly reminders.

#Emails for quiet nights and one-off news

Not every email needs a date on the calendar. Some of the most useful ones fill a gap or share news:

• A midweek deal, sent on a Monday for that week: "Two courses for £18, Monday to Wednesday".
• A new head chef or a menu overhaul: "New chef, new menu: here's what's changed".
• A refurb or reopening, with photos of the new room and the date: "We're reopening Friday. Come and see the new bar".
• A last-minute gap, if you can send quickly: "Tables free tonight from 7pm".
• A change people need to know about, in a plain subject line with no spin: "Our new opening hours from 1 March".

I'd keep these to one or two a month on top of your regular emails. Any more and the quiet-night offers start to suggest the place is always quiet.

#How do you turn these ideas into a plan?

Pick two or three emails a month from the lists above, put them in a calendar, and work backwards from each date. Set menus for Christmas, Mother's Day and New Year's Eve need four to eight weeks' notice. Events need one to two weeks. Your monthly round-up goes out on the same day every month.

Our hospitality marketing calendar for 2027 has the year's dates in one place. If Venuesmith is already building your Instagram and Facebook plan, the events in it make a ready-made shortlist for email too, since anything worth three social posts is probably worth one email.